SHIC

The classroom teaching ended last Friday, the 18th. The doctors have learned a lot since this part of the training began on October 10th. Our purpose in this area has been fulfilled.

The doctors enjoyed their clinical practice last week; some of them even had much hands on practice. Dr. Liu with the Shenyang Health Bureau established the clinicals to be done in the Shenyang Hospitals #5 and #8 this part of their training. The director of the education department of # 8 Hospital went to visit each of our doctor's wards and required the Guiding Doctor's be especially responsible for our doctor's clinical practice. They have arranged for one teacher to work side-by-side with each doctor.

The clinical practice fee is much less than it was for our first VDT--for this we are most grateful. These two hospitals are taking this seriously and have arranged for this training very well. The doctors are very pleased with the quality of their training and the responsible attitude we have shown in providing this training for them.

One doctor has missed about half of the classes due to some emergency needs in her home hospital. We have decided not to allow her to take part in the examination and we will not to give her a certificate. It is a sad thing to say no sometimes. We must guard the integrity of the course. We would be open to her attending if we have such an opportunity again.

On November 15th and 17th, two teachers from the CMU gave two two-hour free lectures in the evenings. One was on Hospital administration and the other on how to use antibiotics correctly. This was most helpful to our doctors, though it took away their evenings those two days.

We gave a one week leave to one of the doctors from training, because the president of his hospital reported that one of the hospital's doctors was sick. We discovered though that this was not the truth, but rather that the president did not want the doctor to come back to finish his training. We discussed this with the Health Bureau where he was from and the president finally agreed for him to continue the training. The doctor was very happy and thankful to be able to continue his training.

We celebrated Thanksgiving with a traditional (for the most part) western Thanksgiving dinner together. A total of nearly 70 gathered for an evening of eating, playing, laughing and singing. We had a whole roast lamb and lamb stuffing. It all turned out really well. Helen, a special guest, shared the meaning of Thanksgiving with the group. Everyone enjoyed this very special evening of relaxation. Thanks to Connie, her helper Mrs. Yang and My helper Mrs. Song, food for all was finished cooking by eating time. I think everyone was sore for several days after this cooking marathon.

We had our Saturday activity of playing badminton on November 26. Seven of the doctors participated in this activity.

The doctors have shared with us that they feel like kindergarten children at times the way we work with them. We carry the computer and projector every day during the teaching period and now during the clinical practice. We arrange a bus to provide them transportation from their training and living areas. They appreciate the way we take care of them.

The heart surgery of little Shang Xiasiu was very successful although complicated. She woke up the second day much to the relief of her family members.

Our staff also successfully delivered the dental x-ray machine. However, there was one hitch. One of the main components to the operation of the machine was missing. The one who donated the machine found the missing piece in his basement so he will be sending it on to us. Once we get this piece and pass it on to the hospital in Linzhou, the machine should make sense and be able to be used.

The renovation crew is working away on the hospital. We are still somewhat in shock. The hospital told us that we need to be done by the 10th or I think the 12th would also do. They have some important people coming and they will inspect our ward. We want to look right and pretty. We talked with some of the hospital vice-presidents about this the renovation. Some of them came up to our floor to see the renovations that we are making. They required that we water proof the floor in our laundry room which seemed reasonable. But this added 1,000rmb more to the price. The manager called the owner/director of the renovation company and he said he would do this too. That brings his donated renovation to over ¥21000 rmb or $2,625 USD.

One of our supporters has volunteered to pay for the shower unit, which will go in the laundry room. What a wonderful Christmas gift! We do have to purchase three pre-fab sinks which will cost about $150 USD each. We would gladly receive the money for that.

Now we have 11 babies in the hospital and also Li Shuang, our 15 year old. One baby passed-away last week. This child had many very serious problems. Four of our children have cleft lips and they have had some problems with being under normal weight. Our nurses are working hard to ensure that these children get all the nutrients that they need. It is slow going, because it takes so long to feed the children and one of these children has a feeding tube. We hope that with the love and care that these children receive on a daily basis will make a difference in their lives.

Li Shuang, our 15 year old, is happier than she has been for quite some time. Now she feels safe and secure in our hospital. She has several visitors on the weekends and now that she has her own wheel chair, which we purchased last week, she can now go out to the park with her friends.

Becky Johnson is back from her travels and Dong Fan is very happy about that. He has recovered quite well from her absence.

We are looking for a staff replacements for a Native English speaking administrator; a grant writing type person and a carpenter. These are the ones that we need the most and in that order of priority.

Becky J. and I will be working on the proposal this week. We also have some special meetings on for this week about the property.

Half of our days Becky and I will work on the property proposal and half of our days we will work on the CAF material. There is a little left to do on that proposal. We need to get it done and printed professionally. We need to send it to folks who are waiting before the end of the month.

We continued with our weekly meeting to discuss the character principle of the month, "Enthusiasm." We plan to meet each week as a whole office over lunchtime (Noodles day). Last week we reviewed what we had read and learned about a couple of weeks before. Paula announced the October Character first Employee of the Month: Alice Liu. She was praised for her great expression of enthusiasm in everything, no matter the situation.

MPH